The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-08-18
TRaE AURORA As SEEN IN
ALASKA.

Lieutenant Ray, in his report to the
government on the International Polar
Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska,
says: "Every clear night the sky was
illuminated by the most beautiful dis
plays Of aurora it has ever been my for
tune to witness. They always COM
menced in the northeast and northwest,
and seemed to spring from dark, low
bank of clouds. The lights were never
stationary for single second, neither did
they ever take the form Of bows or arches,
SO often seen in other latitudes, but great
curtains of light, flashing with all the
prismatic colors, seemed to be drawn
across the heavens, ever rising and chang
ing, and often eliminating in corona at
the zenith, and falling like shower Of
meteoric fire. As the winter advanced
these displays were most brilliant, and
were always of character that defes de-
scription, either by pen or pencil, as they
we're never for two seconds alike. They
were unaccompanied by any sound so far
as we were able to observe, and the
deathly stiffness that always prevails in
this region when the sea Is closed gave us
an excellent opportunity to detect any
sound, had there been any,"
Lieut.. Ray thus more specifically de-
scribes one of these auroras-one of the
most magnificent displays that he OBJ
served, and which occurred December 8,
1881
The "frst appearance was in the s.
and Sc, and for several hours nothing
appeared but a few pale arches and bands,
which had no remarkable features worthy
of notice, except the rapidity with which
they changed their position and charac-
ter They appeared, faded, and reap
peared in various parts of the sky SO
quickly that it was very difficult to local
ize them At 2:4O A. NJ, narrow,
greenish yellow arch, with a beautiful
rosy fringe, developed in the S. Sc, and,
in few minutes, extended through Tau
rus, Cassiopeia, and Cygnus down to the
N, and for about ten minutes displayed
some extremely beautiful tints, especial
ly along its northern half. 1t seemed to
be composed of an infinite number of
short rays in condition of intense vibra-
tion, the motion being principally in the
direction of it's length, while flashes of
the most vivid coloring beamed ont in the
most bewildering variety. At the same
time, numerous rays and patches of quiv-
ering light appeared in various parts of
the sky IN quick succession, dancing and
gyrating to and fro, swift as the
lightning fash. While the north
ern half of the arch remained thus
brilliant, the southern half faded away.
A few minutes afterwards, a patch of
rosy, greenish light appeared in the mid
Hlo Of Orion onA in 70 or fUn do
vnlnrad into numerous sneaves or rays
with the greatest variety and intensity of
motion, and displaying the most brilliant
colors as they rose and converged to a
point close to the star Algol, forming an
imperfect but most brilliant corona, which
swayed and swirled and eddied around
our zenith with a kaleidoscope magni6-
cence utterly indescribable. The changes
of tint, aspect and position were so rapid
and numerous that the eye strove to fol-
low their bewildering confusion in vain.
The general motion was to the north,
though a brilliant curtain was at the
same time moving toward the zenith from
the north The brilliance of the moon
seemed to have little effect on the inten-
sity of the colors which appeared. The
colors were very numerous. Orange, yel-
low, rose, ruby-red, peach blossom, emer-
aid green, and numerous intermediate
tints changed and interchanged in beau
tiful confusion. The whole phenomena
of waving wreaths, Pickering flames, rays,
curtains, fringes, bands and flashing COL
ors, the strange confusion of light and
motion, presented picture of which
words can convey very poor idea. The
whole display lasted about thirty minutes.
There was also intense magnetic disturb
ance during this time, the needles being
almost unmanageable.
"The popularity of this aurora was its
lowness in the atmosphere, several
patches of cloud, apparently not very ele-
vated, appearing far above it. 1t did not
entirely disappear until about twelve,